Abstract
Purpose: The concept of “work stressors” has been well studied. However, in the field of nursing, studies concerning social support behaviors are limited. The aim of this study was to compare nurse work stressors, social support behaviors, and predictors of these variables among nurses in Jordanian teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Design: A convenience sampling technique and a comparative quantitative research design were used in the current study. Two hundred and ninety-one nurses were recruited from five teaching hospitals, and 172 were recruited from eight non-teaching hospitals in Jordan. Methods: The Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) and the Inventory of Social Supportive Behaviors (ISSB) were used to collect data. Results: The studied variables differed across hospitals. In some subscales, as well as in some individual items of the scales, nurse work stressors and social support behaviors differed between teaching and non-teaching hospitals. In teaching hospitals, the work shift was the only predictor of nurses’ work stressors, whereas the work shift and model of nursing care were predictors of social support behaviors. In non-teaching hospitals, the work shift, level of education, and model of nursing care were predictors of nurse work stressors. Predictors of social support behaviors were marital status, model of nursing, and organizational structure. Conclusions: Regardless of the type of hospital, nurse stressors should be assessed and, once identified, managed by providing various social support behaviors. Clinical relevance: By turning a work environment into a healthy workplace, researchers and nurse leaders believe that improvements can be realized in recruitment and patient safety and quality.
Highlights
Work stressors vary according to the nature of the workplace
In estimating the Cronbach’s alpha for the Nursing Stress Scale (NSS), the current study indicated that the Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.90, which is very close to the original scale reporting (0.92)
The current study shows that nurses are rotated on day and evening shifts, which may explain why the worked shift predicts nurse work stressors in the two types of hospitals [5]; nurses in these hospitals are not fixed to a single shift, and the worked shift can interfere with a person’s physical and social well-being
Summary
Work stressors vary according to the nature of the workplace. Nurses are at high risk of experiencing work stressors [1,2,3]. Changes are not just limited to the restructuring of hospitals, and they focus on quality initiatives, changing methods of reimbursement, and the incorporation of advanced technology into clinical settings [3]. Such changes will cause work stressors for many health care professionals; nurses are more prone to these stressors, as they have more direct and frequent exposure to clients and their families than other health care professionals do [1,2,3]. Reports indicate that 13.8 million working days were lost to work-related stressors such as depression and anxiety in 2006 and 2007 [14]
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